1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a controlling apparatus of copying machine having a function to store the copying number of papers per unit element (minimum unit as the basis for calculation of copying charges or the like, e.g., department, section, or individual person within a company).
2. Description of the Prior Art
The applicant of the present invention has provided a controlling apparatus connected to a copying machine when in use, which has a function to count and store the copying number of sheets per every unit element and to display (output) the same upon necessities.
According to the above apparatus, copying is started by setting a magnetic card named as an element card. The copying number in the state set by the magnetic card is stored in correspondence to each element. Therefore, it is possible to know the copying number of sheets per unit element, and calculate the charges for every unit element.
An apparatus with the same function as above is disclosed also in published specifications of Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (unexamined) No. 54-72057 and Japanese Utility Model Publication (examined) No. 1-21312.
In some cases, it sometimes becomes necessary to find the total copying number of each department or section, etc. in order to make a budget for each of them which use the same copying machine in common. In such circumstances as above, the controlling apparatus of the aforementioned type has been brought in the market.
Moreover, it may be required to find the total copying number for a group consisted by a plurality of departments or sections.
For example, supposing that there are the first through fifth sections in the patent department and the first through third sections in the development department, that is, eight sections in total, the sum of the copying sheets either in the group formed of the five sections of the patent department or that formed of three sections of the development department may be sometimes necessitated.
In this case, it would be possible to obtain necessary data by summing manually the copying numbers stored for every section. However, this method wastes time and labor.
In another way, although the total copying number of the patent department can be made clear if it is arranged beforehand that the patent department be considered as a single unit element, it is not possible to know the copying number of each individual section in the patent department. This method is further disadvantageous in that it does not meet the case where a plurality of sections included in the unit element are to be changed, or a plurality of different kinds of sections, i.e., organizations are to be included in a unit element.
Given that the above-described first through third sections in the patent department handle patents related to agricultural machinery, the fourth and fifth sections in the patent department handling patents related to small ships, while the first section in the development department makes research and development of agricultural machinery, with the second and third sections in the development department handling small ships, the above method is not fit for obtaining both of the sum of the copying number of the whole of the patent department (first through fifth sections) and the sum of the copying number of the whole of the group handling the agricultural machinery (that is, first through third sections in the patent department and first section in the development department).